The present invention relates to a female electrical connector comprising a contact volume for receiving a jack in a plug direction extending parallel to a longitudinal direction of the contact volume, a shell for securing the position of the connector relative to a substrate and a status switch, which is adapted to be operated by inserting the jack into the contact volume in the plug direction.
Electrical connectors of the above mentioned type can be connected to jacks or plugs of the tip-sleeve-, tip-ring-sleeve, tip-ring-ring-sleeve or the like type and are often used for connecting stereo jacks of loudspeakers or headphones to a multimedia device like MP3-players, mobile phones or computers. When the headphone or speakers are being connected to the device by inserting the jack into the female electrical connector, noise can occur, as contact sections, e.g. the tip or one of the rings of the above mentioned types of the jack pass contact members of the electrical connector. In order to avoid this noise, it is known to add a switch to the connector, which mutes the output of the device while inserting the jack. In the state of the art, such a switch is shaped as a separate part, which is added to the connector.
Another application of the connector is to connect the device to a low-voltage operation energy source. Here, the switch is used to shut down the operation energy during the insertion process of the jack in order to avoid a wrong connection or short circuit during the insertion procedure.
As the installation space for the connector is limited, especially if it is used with computers, mobile phones or MP3-players, the additional switch causes an unacceptable need for installation space in the device as well as higher costs for material and handling. In view of the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above, an object underlying the invention is to provide an electrical connector with a switch, which needs less space for installation.
This object is achieved according to the invention for the female electrical connector mentioned in the beginning in that the switch is at least partially integrated into the shell.